New school year, new resolutions

 ….continued from before:

I tend to make resolutions at the beginning of the school year, not January 1^st.

Why? Because I’m typically exhausted the first day of January, and we all know what we say when we’re exhausted and someone asks what we want to do.

So, my resolution:

Come up with goals that can become plans with deadlines.

To be continued…..

Dream to plan to goal

 During a networking luncheon I found this in my fortune cookie:

A dream is just a dream. A goal is a dream with a plan and a deadline.

I dream of there being plenty of organists available and willing to play whatever music people love to hear on the organs in the world.

I dream of people creating lace with whatever tool they choose to bring beauty to the world.

I dream of sharing what I see as I listen to and play music.

So, what’s my goal?????

As a wonderful piano teacher I’ve come to know says, “To be continued…..”

Bullion Territory

The third section of the bird described in the directions of the thread painting project is the claws of the little sweetie tweetie. These are accomplished by stitching 7 bullion knots. When I was reviewing the text before our group meeting, I saw that there was mention of doing this step while the fabric is held taught by the hoop. OK….. As opposed to???? *shrug* I picked up my doodle cloth and followed the detailed directions on a separate page. OK… I get it a bit. Awkward, but when you’re new to a technique, awkward is pretty usual. Remember my forays into Venetian Picot production? Similar learning curve. Anyway, even though I was using a fabric with a different set and a different size needle, I got the hang of it.

I found out during our meeting that what I didn’t know allowed me to accomplish more with less stress.

I must remember this as I teach tatting or music or talk about what I do with those who don’t create.

Thread painting adventure

 I had the pleasure yesterday of exploring thread painting. The group, kind of a study group, of 6 stitchers from the EGA chapter gathered to work on a small design of a robin. This lovely design created by Trish Burr is quite small but has good detail. It was fun!

Being such a newbie to the world of stitching, I prepared by reading some material found online in blogs and such, watching a few videos, and really looking over the packet provided by one of my fellow adventurers. It struck me as a technique that will take quite some time to accomplish (much like tatting) and requires careful use of color blending/coordinating (much like the tatting I love to do). I hope to have pictures soon. Yesterday was spent practicing and thus isn’t very pleasing to photograph.

It is enough, but there's more to do.....

 I found myself getting frustrated and stressed by not achieving tatting designs by the dozens. I do have ideas for dozens of them, just haven’t gotten them documented. One rabbit hole I got sucked into recently was on how Bach’s music could be represented using Gematric techniques. Honestly, I haven’t spent a lot of time on that. I’ve read a few articles; the most recent “Proportional relationships in Bach’s Die Kunst der Fuge and the intended duration of Contrapunctus XIV” published in the May 2022 issue of the Diapason magazine. To me, the theory of such analysis and the result in thread just doesn’t seem relevant. I’m content to look at the music from a higher altitude. And without the help of calculator and equations. Not to say it isn’t fascinating to follow, just not where I’m at with thread and shuttle or needle. Besides, if I drilled down that far in music, I’d have HUNDREDS of ideas. There’s more to do.

Plugging away

 Still nothing to show in thread. My ideas are working, just not very pretty. I’ll get there soon, just had a bit of a stumbling block to my schedule. A colleague is having a crisis and needs the support of an experienced, has-been. While waiting for an answer to a query by text, I was reminded of what a friend said about art and craft: 

“Art can come from craft. We judge craft by how closely we achieved a pre-determined outcome.” 

My organ playing is more in the zone of half-baked craft lately. Will it be enough?

When is a trio not a trio?

 That question is not meant to be a riddle. We teach that trio means there will be 3 parts. And that’s correct most of the time. I attended a chamber music concert recently that was stunning. A non-musician friend attended with me. The question had come up during a dinner party. I love such questions. My friend had been exploring Bach with Apple music. One selection the algorithm came up with sounded like more than 3 instruments, the picture showed 4 musicians smiling standing around what seemed like a piano. I explained a bit, then invited them to attend the concert with me.  The riddle was solved for them once we sat down and looked at the program and how things were set up.

In 5000 words or less (yes, we musicians often go down rabbit holes answering questions) the trio played that afternoon was a Bach piece. On “stage” (remember it was a chamber music concert….think a gathering after dinner before the dancing starts) was a harpsichord, a chair and 3 stands. The musicians sitting down (harpsichord and cello) were providing one “part” as the Continuo while 2 violins played the other parts standing at the other 2 music stands. The upper parts were closely paired in dialogue with statements and answers while the lower parts provided the harmonic foundation. A lovely concert!

Now before my Bach friends hit the Comment button, the cello was viole de gambe and algorithms are not usually this cooperative. There. Now how does this relate to tatting?

I’ve had sketches piling up for lace based on trios. Representing the 3 lines of music just wasn’t working! Until that afternoon. I needed to be reminded that continuo and hocket exist all the time in Baroque trios. I’ve been amending my sketches. Nothing in thread yet. Maybe tomorrow…….

My silk adventures are branching out soon

 

A friend stopped by the Kreinik headquarters for me last month. She had permission to go shopping for me. This is what she brought back:

I’m very intrigued with stitching on the “silk gauze” even though it looks a bit intimidating. I’ll be looking for tips on the Internet for neophytes like me. As pansies, or violets, don’t grow well in our yard, this may be the closest I get to my favorite flower. 😊

I have an ear

 

I finished the stitching of the ear of the elephant. Now to finish the rest of the background and border so I can attach this baby! After looking at my August to-do, I estimate that I’ll be finished with the whole thing by……Christmas 2023. No really! Well, let me just say I believe in setting goals I can achieve.

Hope your August will be enjoyable!